Former University of Central Florida star Blake Bortles is expected to be one of the first quarterbacks taken in the 2014 NFL Draft, but his girlfriend, Lindsey Duke, may just steal the show.
Reuters

The day has finally arrived. Blake Bortles’ girlfriend, Lindsey Duke, who has been turning heads ever since the top quarterback prospect was playing for the University of Central Florida, accompanied her boyfriend to New York City for the 2014 NFL Draft.

Bortles, 22, will sit in the “Green Room,” the area reserved for the 2014 NFL Draft’s top prospects, and Duke will likely be at his side. The 22-year-old model took to social media this week to reveal her excitement over her boyfriend's big day.

“Best of luck to my bestfriend today @BBortles5 - so happy I’ve got to enjoy this journey with you #DraftDay,” Duke wrote on Twitter, along with a photo of the pair from high school.

Duke, who is slated to graduate from the University of Central Florida this month, skyrocketed to fame earlier this year after she was featured on several prominent sports websites, including Larry Brown Sports and Busted Coverage. She’s modeled for aXis Magazine, and maintains an avid fan base on Twitter and Instagram.

In January, Bortles admitted that fans seemed to be more interested in his girlfriend, whom he has dated since high school, than his exploits on the football field. “Apparently she is more of a household name than I am,” he told ESPN. “She’s more famous than me, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

When asked in January about the fact that an Internet search for “Lindsey Duke” generated more results than a query for “Blake Bortles,” UCF head football coach George O’Leary had a hard time disputing the numbers. “I would hope as a head coach that the [Google search] numbers would be reversed,” he told ESPN. “But obviously you haven’t seen his girlfriend. She deserves 6 million Googles.”

Even NFL scouts couldn’t resist asking Bortles about Duke. During an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show” in February, the quarterback revealed that he’d been asked “awkward” questions while being interviewed by officials from various teams.

“’If we come to town, will she be there for dinner?’ and stuff like that,” Bortles told Patrick. “They knew [about Duke] going into the meeting and I think that was kind of their angle to see how I reacted to that. It was alright. It was all stuff I had heard before.”

This isn’t the first time that a top NFL prospect’s significant other has drawn significant attention on draft day. In 2012, Lauren Tannehill, the wife of Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill, became an Internet sensation after she was spotted sitting with the Texas A&M product when he was selected in the first round.